This invention relates generally to the field of financial transactions. This invention relates more particularly to systems and methods for collecting payment information from consumers and processing payments through electronic funds transfers.
Merchants often provide products and/or services to consumers in return for a promise to pay in the future. However, consumers sometimes do not fulfill their obligation and a certain portion of a merchant's accounts receivable goes unpaid. In attempting to collect on its accounts receivable, a merchant typically weighs the cost of further efforts to collect from a consumer against the amount owned by the consumer and the likelihood that the additional efforts will be successful.
Electronic funds transfers provide a convenient method for collecting money from consumers. For example, if a merchant engages a collector to obtain payment from a consumer, the collector may contact the consumer by phone and obtain payment account information and receive permission from the consumer to process a transaction. However, a consumer attempting to avoid an obligation may provide false or inaccurate information to the collector. Further, unbeknownst to the collector, the consumer may have avoided this or similar obligations in the past, also by providing false information. Thus, systems and methods are needed that provide instant verification of payment account information and compile historical payment information that may be used to detect efforts to circumvent payment of debts. Such systems and methods generally also would make debt collection more efficient.